[Resistance to fluoroquinolones in 2013: what are the consequences in internal medicine?]

Because of their important qualities, fluoroquinolones are amongst the most prescribed antibiotics in the world. The corollary of this success is the rapid increase in resistance to fluoroquinolones, responsible for treatment failures. Moreover, fluoroquinolone-resistance is often accompanied by resistance to other classes of antibiotics. Currently, significant levels of resistance are found both in hospitals and in community settings, severely limiting possibilities for empirical use of fluoroquinolones. A major mechanism explaining the rapid emergence of resistance to fluoroquinolones is their specific impact on human microbiota and the selection of resistant strains in the microbiota, which seems to be an unavoidable ecological side effect. In order to preserve the efficiency of this important class of antibiotics, limiting their use and respecting good practice recommendations are essential.